The Summer of Sigmar!

Well it seems like the Summer of Sigmar is now over, with Tau on the horizon after the upcoming Skarbrand, so I thought I’d assemble all of my Age of Sigmar blogs here, for no real reason beyond wanting to have everything in one place. Because I’m fussy like that.

A New Age
It all began back in July, when White Dwarf #75 brought with it a free Stormcast Eternal Liberator. The magazine attempted to show something of the history of the new world – the Mortal Realms – but it ended up a little jumbled, and far from wanting more, instead I think it would have been wiser to have not given us that. It led to quite a lot of negative reaction – including the famous burning of the dark elf army.

Despite all of that, however, I was prepared to change my mind.

Sigmar Saturday
Once the models were released, however, I totally changed my opinion, and really began to embrace the new Stormcast Eternals – helped in no small part by the painting tutorials put out by Games Workshop on youtube. It was in watching these tutorials that I decided I was going to really go for this, anyway, and slowly, over the next few weeks, I launched myself into the most-concerted painting effort I have ever experienced!

Age of Sigmar, week two
The second week saw the release of the big book, as well as the first “proper” kits for the Stormcast Eternals. The box of Liberators were particularly nice, though I initially overlooked them, having already put together so many from the core set.

Age of Sigmar, week three
New terrain! However, this was a quiet week for me, as I laboured on the Dracoth from the starter set and waited for the Judicators to arrive…

Age of Sigmar, week four
Week four started to get really exciting, as the promise of yet more stuff became apparent. Judicators were released, and Retributors went on pre-order along with yet more terrain and another faction – the Sylvaneth, a re-packaging of the tree spirits from the old Wood Elves.

Age of Sigmar, week five
The most expensive weekend yet, as I bought new scenery and new books, along with the new Retributor multi-part kit. Things seemed to have hit a crescendo for me, however, as the tone began to shift from the forces of Order to those of Chaos. I wasn’t particularly interested there, having sold the Chaos miniatures from the core set, but something that I definitely appreciated was the continued look at the lore of this word. Another campaign book, The Quest for Ghal-Maraz, went up on pre-order, and I think it was at this point I began to feel there was some real depth to this setting, after all.

Age of Sigmar, week six
The sixth week was mercifully quieter, as Chaos began to be a thing. However, as I began to take note of the setting and the lore, I returned to reading the End Times novels from earlier in 2015, so that I could leap into the novels and stories from this world. A lot of repackaged models were released and up for pre-order, further fleshing out the Chaos factions, while I caught up with finishing off the models from the starter set.

Age of Sigmar, week seven
As Chaos continued to be fleshed out with the enormous Dreadhold kits, I turned my attention to the Ogres that I’d started at the beginning of 2015, thinking them a suitable second army for my Age of Sigmar incursions. However, there seems to be something about Ogres that really excites me, yet I can never seem to finish even one model. Being used to painting little metal warriors, maybe I’m just not used to so much skin…

Age of Sigmar, week eight
Week eight brought a return to the Stormhosts, with perhaps one of the silliest models I’ve ever seen, the Celestant-Prime. I preordered it simply for hilarity’s sake, while focusing on my Liberators by building up some squads with swords rather than hammers. The sword look is one that I really like, anyway, and if I never have to paint a shield again, I’ll be a happy guy!

I’d also finished The Rise of the Horned Rat, which was an enjoyable look at the skaven, dwarves and goblins during the End Times.

Age of Sigmar, week nine
Finally, we got the multi-part Prosecutors I’d been waiting for since the starter set! The Prosecutors went up for pre-order and I was over-excited in a way that hasn’t been seen for a long time! We also saw the pre-order for the Stormcast Eternal battle-tome, a curious book that acts like a codex for the army, despite all of the rules being made available for free from the website. However, the way GW had been producing books for the Age of Sigmar meant that this would be an insta-buy due to the amount of additional content being ploughed into it. I’ve mentioned it before, but these books feel almost like a kid’s annual from the 90s, with all manner of activities and stories to keep you busy!

Age of Sigmar, week ten
A very exciting week for me, seeing the Prosecutors at last! These kits act almost as the apotheosis of the Stormcast Eternal line, with weapon options that echo previous releases and really tie the army together. The upgrade kits felt a little too late, but are nice to have regardless. The two special character kits, the Knight-Venator and the Knight-Azyros were also interesting additions.

I’d finally started to build some AoS scenery, as well as the last model from the starter set, the Lord-Relictor, and finished my foray into the End Times series with Lord of the End Times. The novel ends by perfectly setting up this new world, so while it was a little odd that I’d come to it as the first round of releases was wrapping up, it was somehow quite apt that I did!

Age of Sigmar, week eleven
And so we come to the final blog in my series, as we wrap up the release of the Stormcast Eternals with the Knight-Heraldor and the Knight-Vexillor. Strange choices for single-figure releases, as old-time Fantasy players will know that army units always included musician and standard-bearer figures in the box. Of course, the suitably different poses compensate for this, but part of me wonders why we haven’t had the option to make these guys in the Liberator box.

Anyhow, with a final flurry of Chaos releases, Age of Sigmar now looks like it has wrapped up. I do hope we’ll be getting more as the year progresses, though perhaps not in as concerted a release window as we’ve seen here.

The summer of Sigmar will always go down, for me, as the most exciting time for painting miniatures as I’ve yet experienced!